SCOTUS Blocks California School Policy Hiding Kids’ ‘Gender Presentation’ From Parents

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a major win for California parents seeking to protect their children from LGBT ideology in state schools on Monday.

In its per curiam opinion, the high court vacated a stay (“pause”) issued by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on a December injunction by a California-based district court judge. That permanent injunction prohibited enforcement of a California policy that permitted or forced school employees to “mislead[] the parent or guardian of a minor child in the education system about their child’s gender presentation at school.”

In his order, District Judge Roger Benitez, a Bush 43 appointee, further required California officials to notify school personnel of his ruling and to include in materials for parents and faculty a statement acknowledging parents’ “federal constitutional right to be informed if their public school student child expresses gender incongruence.”

California parents’ victory was short-lived, however, because the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals froze Benitez’s order a few weeks later. In its unanimous ruling, the appellate court’s three-judge panel of Democrat appointees claimed that state officials “have shown that ‘there is a substantial case for relief on the merits,’” and said it was “skeptical of the district court’s decision on the merits.”

The 9th Circuit’s decision prompted plaintiffs to file an application with SCOTUS, in which they requested that the high court vacate the 9th Circuit’s stay and allow Benitez’s injunction to take effect.

In its unsigned opinion, SCOTUS granted the plaintiffs’ request to vacate the 9th Circuit’s injunction “with respect to the parents because this aspect of the stay is not ‘justified under the governing four-factor test.’” The high court noted that the parents are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims and that they will suffer “irreparable harm” if the 9th Circuit’s ruling is allowed to remain in place.

The court’s order does not apply to the plaintiff teachers suing over the policy, however. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have granted the plaintiffs’ application in full.

Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

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Families Receive $1.5 Million After Supreme Court Victory Over LGBT Storytelling

A Maryland school district that lost a recent U.S. Supreme Court case will pay $1.5 million to parents who weren’t allowed to opt their children out of LGBT story time, the families’ attorneys said.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the plaintiffs in the landmark Mahmoud v. Taylor case, announced the settlement on Feb. 20. The defendant, the Montgomery County Board of Education—which oversees Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest school district in the state—was also ordered to comply with court orders mandating advance notice and opt-out provisions.

“Public schools nationwide are on notice: running roughshod over parents’ rights and religious freedom isn’t just illegal—it’s costly,” Eric Baxter, Becket senior counsel and the lead attorney in the case, said in a Feb. 20 statement.

“This settlement enforces the Supreme Court’s ruling and ensures parents, not government bureaucrats, have the final say in how their children are raised.”

The Feb. 19 order from Judge Deborah Boardman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland did not specify the settlement amount but did say the plaintiffs are “entitled to reasonable attorney fees and costs” outlined in a separate agreement. Three families and “Kids First,” an unincorporated association of parents and teachers, are listed as the awardees.

The Supreme Court announced its 6–3 ruling on June 27, 2025, and directed the litigation of remaining issues, including any settlement, to continue in lower courts.

The case dates back to 2022, after a group of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish parents told the board of education that, for religious reasons, they wanted to remove their elementary school children from book readings about same-sex romances between young children, gender transitions, and pride parades. The parents were denied permission to do so, even though the district and the state have policies and laws allowing opt-outs and requiring advance notice of such materials.

The Supreme Court’s majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, stated that the government cannot condition the benefit of free public education on parents’ acceptance of instruction that threatens the religious beliefs and practices that parents choose to instill in their children.

Baxter said the court had ongoing jurisdiction over the district to ensure compliance.

“It took tremendous courage for these parents to stand up to the school board and take their case all the way to the Supreme Court,” Baxter said in a statement.

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Far-Left Activists Are Encouraging and Radicalizing K–12 Students In Nationwide Anti-ICE Walkouts

A growing number of K–12 students are taking part in walkouts and protests against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across the nation, raising questions about the activists radicalizing them.

The walkouts, which many school administrators say are a legitimate exercise of the students’ First Amendment rights, have seen increasing incidents of violence and lawlessness, ranging from beatings and scuffles to vandalism.

Similar protests and calls to “melt ICE” have popped up across the nation in communities, from Colorado to Texas to Virginia, where hundreds of students have been suspended for leaving campus during what school officials have called “student-led” walkouts.

The New York Post reports that it’s not just school officials who are facilitating these protests with far-left activists encouraging kids to skip class and “rebel against” ICE agents across major West Coast cities.

The activist group Dare To Struggle instructed students from six downtown Los Angeles area schools to meet at the “Federal Building by 2pm” to protest deportations.

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Secretary Rubio ‘Parents, Not Schools, Should Raise Children’ – No Indoctrination, No Government in Education

At a Hannity town hall in Florida, Secretary Marco Rubio shared his views on education and the role of families. “It’s neither the government nor the schools’ job to raise children. They’re there to teach,” he said. “Parents raise children. Strong families raise children.” His message resonates with conservative and religious parents who believe schools should focus on academics and allow families to instill values in their children.

Rubio said he does not want the federal government to threaten schools. He argued that if the government wants to fund programs such as free school lunches, that is fine, but there should not be strings attached. “If you don’t let boys play in girls’ sports, we will take away your school lunch money,” he said, criticizing federal coercion.

“What we are doing at the federal level is ensuring that we are not bullying states into adopting policies that, at the end of the day, turn these places from schools into indoctrination centers,” Rubio added. “That’s actually the way Marxism works. They use the schools to indoctrinate and tell the kids, ‘Don’t listen to your parents. Listen to us.’ We cannot tolerate that. We won’t allow it, and that would destroy our country.”

Secretary Rubio’s education agenda centers on increasing competition through school choice and vocational training while aggressively removing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and “woke” ideologies from public institutions. Upon becoming Secretary of State in 2025, he reversed DEI policies within the State Department, replacing them with a focus on strict meritocracy and performance, declaring that “DEI is gone, forever.”

He also supported legislation to prevent socially progressive and divisive flags, including the LGBTQ+ pride flag, from being flown at U.S. embassies, insisting that the American flag alone represents the nation’s values abroad.

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Twelve Thousand Hours of Indoctrination: How K-12 Education Went Wrong

“What we’ve effectively done is handed over a curriculum to the people on the left here, and they have just indoctrinated. Twelve thousand hours hours is about the amount of time a kid spends in school,” John Droz told The Gateway Pundit in an interview.

Droz is a physicist who retired from regular employment at age 34 and has been involved in education for more than 20 years. He applies his skills of scientific inquiry to analyze how the K-12 education system has gone wrong, both in failing students academically and in indoctrinating them into Marxism. In 2012, he spoke on the subject before the U.S. House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee.

“They’re indoctrinated with left-leaning ideology, whether it’s in history, whether it’s in mathematics, whether it’s in English, but particularly in science,” he said, explaining that he believes the ideology has come to dominate not only the social sciences but even the hard sciences and mathematics. He described the current curriculum as teaching liberal ideology that is anti-American and anti-science.

The greatest defense against any ideology is reason, but Droz argues that children are no longer being taught to reason. In fact, the traditional “Scientific Method” (the linear five- to seven-step process often found on classroom posters) is being replaced in many states by a framework called the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Proponents of the NGSS argue that the new “Practices” approach is more inclusive. They believe that by focusing on how students’ own observations and cultural backgrounds relate to science, rather than memorizing a Western-standardized five-step list, they can better engage students from diverse backgrounds.

There is a substantial body of literature coming out of Harvard and other top universities on the concept of scientific racism, which NGSS is meant to counter. Proponents argue that the classical five-step scientific method acts as a “filter.” They claim it prioritizes a specific Western, linear way of documenting results and often ignores Indigenous knowledge or communal observation styles.

They further argue that because it is rooted in a historical tradition associated with the Enlightenment, it can make students from other cultures feel like “guests” in a house they did not build. Some also describe the traditional “Scientific Method” as a “dumbed-down” version of reality.

The formal scientific method dates back approximately 400 to 500 years and has been used in the construction and development of major inventions and innovations, from the steam engine to the moon landing to toaster pastries and Starlink. If it were merely a “dumbed-down” version of something superior, it is reasonable to argue that this would have been demonstrated by now.

Droz refers to NGSS as “Not Good Science.” In reviewing available materials, I was unable to identify a specific invention or innovation developed using NGSS as a methodological framework. No satellite has ever been launched based on inclusion.

He explained that around 2010 a group drafted two documents: the NGSS, which outlined science standards for each grade level, and a 400-page companion document called the Framework, which provided explanations. The Framework introduced “Three-Dimensional Learning” and emphasized a shift toward “Practices.” Inclusion and diversity are discussed in Chapter 11.

Teams consisting of a scientist from the National Academy of Sciences, a representative from an organization called Achieve, and a teacher affiliated with the National Science Teachers Association presented these standards to state boards of education. As of today, 48 states and the District of Columbia have adopted standards based on A Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council 2012).

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This Is How Bad Public Schools Are

School districts in affluent areas are hotbeds of left-wing activism, but in general, student performance is at least acceptable. Parents ensure that their own children do well enough, and often invest heavily in supplementing public education with specialized tutoring that at least guarantees that their kids do well on standardized tests. 

Kids get a much worse education than they should, and often more than parents assume, but there is a reason many parents are unaware of the parlous state of the public education system as a whole. If you can get your kid into a good school in a prosperous area, it really isn’t that bad, except for the ideological indoctrination. 

I don’t want to oversell even the better public schools. Kids are now entering college without ever having read a book, and often with math skills that require remedial education, even at elite colleges. But parents love the fact that their kids are getting good grades and doing well on standardized tests, and will earn a credential that will likely serve them well. 

Most affluent parents seem indifferent to the left-wing ideological training their kids are being subjected to, although I detect that a backlash is building and will become strong enough to force the lefties to become more subtle in affluent areas. Or not. 

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Outrage After Florida Teachers Union Says Children Protesting ICE is ‘Required’

It is hard to see public education in America as anything more than indoctrination factories.  The latest efforts to push a far-left agenda are unfolding in anti-ICE rhetoric and demonstrations taking place at schools across the country, spurred on by teachers and administrators.

Now, remarks by Zander Moricz, Executive Director and Founder of the Social Equity and Education (SEE) Alliance at a February 2026 press conference hosted by the Florida Education Association (FEA), Zander Moricz, Executive Director and Founder of the Social Equity and Education (SEE) Alliance, are making headlines.

Moricz suggests that children protesting ICE is ‘required.’

Moricz stated, “Florida students are confronted with videos of ICE rates, of families being torn apart, and of Americans being murdered for using their constitutional rights. They respond. They organize, they speak out, and they do what American students have always done in moments of injustice.”

“They stand together and demand safety for their peers, their families, and themselves. And that response, while framed by some politicians as radical, is rather than reasonable.”

“It’s rational, and in a moment it is required.”

“To any students being told that they do not have the right to speak out or walk out on their campus, I want to be clear. This is the United States of America. You do not shed your First Amendment rights when you step foot through the school.”

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University Of Houston Pledges To End Indoctrination

As first reported at Campus Reform, “The University of Houston (UH) administration recently sent faculty at the school a non-indoctrination form, through which the faculty were instructed to pledge not to ‘indoctrinate’ their students into any particular ideology.”

Of course, universities were not meant to be centers of indoctrination in the first place; however, they have, in most cases, become just that.

The form asks faculty to agree to five statements namely “(1) that a primary purpose of higher education is to enhance critical thinking, (2) that professors should not indoctrinate students, (3) that he or she understands critical thinking, (4) that his or her courses are designed to improve critical thinking, (5) and that his or her pedagogical methods are used to enhance critical thinking.”

This is a major step for a university to commit to this instead of training social justice warriors and Woke ideologues.

This importantly comes after the passage of Senate Bill 37 in Texas, which allowed students to file complaints against Woke indoctrination.

“For too long, unelected faculty senates have operated behind closed doors, steering curriculum decisions, influencing institutional policy, issuing political statements to divest from Israel, and even organizing votes of ‘no confidence’ that undermine public trust,” said Texas State Sen. Brandon Creighton, a supporter of the legislation, in April.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot prohibited Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives by signing Senate Bill 17 in 2023. Abbot’s office explained that he wanted to give “people the opportunity to advance based on talent and merit.”

As usual, not all the professors were on board in opposing woke education.

Apparently, indoctrination is a necessity to some professors.

“UH’s chapter of the left-wing American Association of University Professors (AAUP) even drafted a note for faculty members to send to the deans rather than completing the form as requested.”

The University of Houston seems to be one of the few that are actually taking steps to move towards education and away from indoctrination.

All colleges in America should be centers of education and the free exchange of ideas, sadly, however, this is the exception to the rule.

The University of Houston recently closed down it’s Gender Studies Center.

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Scathing report reveals Antifa-linked org passing out material to K-12 students: ‘Political revolution’

A newly unearthed training guidebook from the far-left activist group Sunrise Movement calls on both college and K-12 students to engage in monthly disruptions and “mass non-cooperation” as part of a coordinated effort to spark a “political revolution” across the United States.

The 25-page document, obtained by Defending Education, focuses on mobilizing youth against what it describes as a “regime” and a “system captured by billionaires,” urges students to walk out of classrooms and boycott businesses in an attempt to prove that the country cannot function without their cooperation.

“We’re not going to get there overnight, and we’re not here to get back to the status quo,” the guidebook says. “We’re here to win a political revolution. This is your guide to start winning at your school right now.”

Pushing back against ICE is a major theme in the document that appears to have been spread to students in Minnesota and across the country and has made that central pillar of its recent advocacy, framing the agency as an “occupying army” and a “personal gestapo” for the Trump administration. 

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Amherst removes officials behind sexually graphic freshman orientation programming

Following the exposé last month by Amherst College student Jeb Allen regarding the school’s sexually explicit freshman orientation programming, it now appears the parties responsible have been let go.

According to a Friday report by The Washington Free Beacon, those removed include the director of the Queer Resource Center and Women’s and Gender Center, the head of the Multicultural Resource Center, and the assistant director for Religious and Spiritual Life.

Activities from the “Voices of the Class” orientation had included students being “encouraged to speak with licensed therapists who ‘specialize in polyamory and ethical non-monogamy,’” discussing “sexual orientation, habits, kinks, and fantasies,” and “roleplaying various casual and drunken sexual scenarios, including sex with strangers.”

Student and administration backlash to Allen’s report was immediate; Amherst officials sent out communiques regarding mental health and other resources, along with notices they were “seeking the removal of the photos, videos, and alarming posts where possible.”

The student government all but demanded disciplinary action against Allen for his “potentially malicious intent to cast [Amherst] traditions in a false light in order to instigate public vitriol.”

It claimed his article violated the Amherst Code of Conduct via its “Harm to Persons” section.

Regarding news of the various officials’ dismissals, Amherst spokesperson Caroline Hanna told the Free Beacon no one was terminated — the college’s moves merely were part of a “long-planned divisional restructuring.”

She did not elaborate, however, on which positions were being “restructured,” nor why no announcement was made about them.

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